While we were preparing to mail the winter 2020 issue of ResearchLIFE magazine, the ravages of the COVID-19 pandemic hit Canada, resulting, sadly, in many deaths, millions of unemployed Canadians, economic devastation across the country and a ‘new normal’ which requires physical distancing from family, friends and colleagues.

I look at my original message in this issue and note that the environment we live in is changing more than I could have ever imagined, when I reflected on the transition from winter to spring. There remains, however, the knowledge that if we persevere through this difficult and unprecedented time, we will come through this. We must be patient, we must trust our scientists and health experts to guide decision making, and we must, above all, remain hopeful for a different world than we envisioned less than six months ago. Humans are resilient by nature and we can all work together and do our part to flatten the curve and come out the other side.

The issue highlights four early career UM researchers who are making great strides in their scientific, creative and scholarly investigations